Gravity Falls: Mending Bonds
by Topaz88
Summary: I could not stand Stan and Ford being so angry with each other after Stan brought Ford through the portal, so I wrote this-which is largely Stan/Ford fluff. :) This occurs directly after "Tale of Two Stans". (Some of the dialouge from I do not own Gravity Falls or any of its characters.
1. Chapter 1

It was over. The government agents were gone, Dipper and Mabel had gone to bed. Stan couldn't believe his brother—his brother who had been gone so long, was standing right beside him. Suddenly Stanford sighed and said,

"Okay, Stanley, here's the deal. You can stay here the rest of the summer to watch the kids. I'll stay down in the basement and try to contain any remaining damage. But when the summer's over, you give me my house back, you give me my name back, and this Mystery Shack junk is over forever. Ya got it? "

Stan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You really aren't gonna thank me, are you? "

Ford was silent.

"Fine." Stan said, suddenly angry. "On one condition: you stay away from the kids; I don't want them in danger. 'cause as far as I'm concerned, they're the only family I have left ! "

Stan turned and headed upstairs. For a moment he stopped and looked back at his brother—the brother he'd tried to get back for so many years. He stood right there-with his back to Stan, not saying a word. Stan felt as though Ford may as well have been still been on the other side of the portal. He wouldn't have admitted it, but he felt his heart break. Sighing, he headed upstairs to see if Dipper and Mabel were asleep.

When Stan got to his great niece and nephew's bedroom door, he heard talking.

 _Too exciting a day for them to be asleep_. Stan thought. He heard Dipper say,

"Eh, I'm sure they'll work things out. "

Mabel answered him, "Dipper, you don't think we'll turn out like Stan and Ford, do you? "

"Well-what do you mean? "

"I mean, they used to be best friends, but then they got all stupid-"

Stan felt as though a pin pricked one of the broken pieces of his heart.

"Can you promise me you won't get stupid? "Mabel continued.

Dipper's voice came jokingly, "Not stupider than you, dum-dum. "

Mabel laughed. "Good night, stupid. "

"Good night, stupid. "

Stan saw the light go out under the door.

 _Stupid. Yeah, stupid. That's how I'm acting._ Stan thought.

 _No you're not,_ came another voice. _You're in the right here. You've been trying to get your brother back all this time, and_ this _is how he repays you? By telling you to get out?_

 _It's Ford's house. I was just here trying to fix the portal—_

 _Yeah, and not a thanks or anything._

Stan thought of the mirror image of himself—aside from the glasses Ford had had to wear since he was two and a half—running with him on the beach at the Jersey shore—making forts in their bedroom, and how he would have punched the lights out of any jerk who made fun of Ford's six fingered hands when they were kids…

 _I can't be stupid_. Stan told himself, knowing his brother might not feel the same way. _I can't_.

He went back down the stairs to the now empty living room. Taking a deep breath, he headed for the door that led to the shop.

There it was - that vending machine. For years Stan had watched people punch the buttons and get things out of it—only he himself knowing what was really behind it.

"Okay, Stan. It's now or never."


	2. Chapter 2

Stan felt as though his legs were suddenly made of lead as he made himself go over to the vending machine, punch in the code, and watched the machine swing away from the wall.

He drew another deep breath (why did he have to keep doing that?) and went into the staircase.

Each step got harder. Below him, he heard scuffling, and Ford mumbling, "What a mess…"

Finally he reached the bottom step. Ford stood with his hands on his hips, looking around. He had taken the dark duster off to reveal a sweater. Over one of the control boards, Stan saw not only the duster, but a large gun of some sort.

Ford turned around. Upon seeing his brother, he blinked slowly. "Stanley."

Stan looked at the floor. "I—I wanted to—"

 _Just wish him a good night and leave._

"Would you _shut_ up!" Stanley snapped-aloud.

Ford's brows drew together. "Is there something wrong? "

Stan returned the look. "Yes! Yes, there's something wrong! You're—"he bit his tongue a moment— _Don't be stupid, Stan._

He looked his brother in the eye. "You're here—"

"Well I wouldn't be here if _you_ hadn't opened the portal."

"Agh—"Stan smacked his face with his palm. "Would you let me _finish_ , Poindexter? This is hard enough!"

Ford folded his arms. "All right, finish."

Stan drew a deep breath. "Look—I know you're the smart one. I—I didn't mean to mess up your motion—whatever machine back when we were in high school, but I did—and I'm sorry. It—it was an accident, but I should have been more careful. "

Stan was too busy trying to think of words to notice Ford's shoulders sink a bit.

"I—I was—I was jealous. You were the one with the smarts, and I was just your dumb brother. Besides, I—"

Stan pressed his fist into his forehead. _Darn it, I'm not good with this mushy stuff…_

"You what, Stanley?" Ford asked. This time Stan did notice the tone of his brother's voice soften a bit.

"I—I didn't want our team broken up." Stan said, finally getting the strength to look into his brother's eyes. "You were my best friend, and I couldn't stand the thought of you leaving."

Ford's eyes widened, and then he abruptly turned his back to Stan.

Stan's heart sank. "Well, next month I'll make notices that the Mystery Shack is closing. I—I just wanted to tell you I was sorry about that whole—breaking your machine, and ruining your life-thing. "

He turned and took a step toward the stairs.

"Stanley, wait. "

Stan stopped and turned his head. "Yeah? "

"Please look at me, Stan."

Stan turned around. "Wha—"

Ford had taken his glasses off, and Stan could see that his brother's eyes were watering. "I—I'm sorry too."

Stan was confused. "Sorry? What the heck are you sorry for? "

Ford grinned and let the tears fall down his face. "Well for one, hitting you as soon as I came through the portal. "

Stan shook his head. "I deserved it. "

"No—no you didn't. Stan, how long were you working on opening the portal? "

Stan shook his head. "I don't know—since-not long after you got sucked into it, I guess. "

He grinned. "But of course if it had been _you_ working on it, it might have taken like a month instead of thirty years. "

Ford chuckled and took a step closer to his brother. "And all that just to save me. "

Stan felt his face get hot. "Well, what can I say? I kinda protected you ever since we were kids. I had to get you back—there was no one in whatever whack job dimension you were in to protect you- "

He looked over at the large weapon that was on the control board with Ford's duster. "-though maybe you didn't _need_ protecting. "

"I was in that dimension for quite a long time before that came into my hands." Ford said, looking in the same direction. "That first year or so in that dimension were hard—and—frightening—and-I wished that you were there with me. "

Now it was Stan's turn to get tears in his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3 (Finale)

"Sure, I suppose I got tougher—and it was—an interesting place to study—"

Stan rolled his eyes. _Aw, come on, Poindexter—you can take the nerd out of the dimension, but…_

"—but I was alone. I know it sounds corny, but it felt like a part of me was gone. Sometimes—when I had to fight off things with that gun—I imagined that you were there beside me. "

The tears fell down Stan's face. He quickly brushed them away with his hands, but he knew his brother had seen them. "I—I always felt that way, too—well, the part of me was gone, part. I wasn't going around fighting monsters with a huge—gun thing. "

Ford looked at the floor a few seconds, his brother catching the grin on his face. When Ford looked back up at Stan he said, "I know this will probably sound silly too, but—"

Stan put on a look of mock surprise. " _What_? You're going to say something _silly_? All right, who are you and where's my _real_ brother? Wait, come to think of it—most of those nerd words you always used sounded silly to me-"

Ford chuckled. "Would you let _me_ talk, now, knucklehead? "

Stan nodded, grinning.

"Could we—um—well, like our niece said—"

Stan didn't let Ford finish. He took a step closer and flung his arms around his brother. Ford's arms immediately went around Stan. As the two "hugged it out" as Mabel has suggested they do earlier that day, Stan felt the broken pieces of his heart come back together.

Five seconds longer than Stan would admit he felt comfortable with (because after all, he wasn't good at that "mushy stuff") he held his brother at arm's length, looked into his eyes a moment, and then looked around the room.

"Y'know—I know this is a good place to have your 'mad scientist lab' and stuff, but it's no place for you to stay. There's—a room upstairs that I think used to be yours—you're welcome to sleep up there if you want—I mean, it's your house and all. "

"That's another thing, Stanley. "

Stan got apprehensive. "Uh—yeah. "

"What I said about—well, the house—and the Mystery Shack being over and all—well, how about—while I'm doing my research, maybe—if I find something interesting—I can bring it back here for one of your attractions. "

One could almost see the dollar signs floating around Stan's head. "R-really?"

"Really. I—won't bring anything back too dangerous, though, I promise. "

"Phew." Stan breathed, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "That's good, 'cause once I let Mabel run the shack—and I found out later that Dipper brought back this—thing—that was supposed to make people see their worst nightmares or something—anyway, I almost got sued." Stan shuddered at the thought—not so much of the creature, but the getting sued part- "That would not be good. "

Ford covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head. "Always the one for the money, weren't you, Stanley."

Stan shrugged. "Well, I told you how the Shack got started. I needed to eat, for _cryin_ ' out loud—and pay your mortgage, by the way. Anyhow—"his tone became a little softer—for Stan, anyway. "Thank you, Sixer. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. "

Ford smiled. He hadn't been called "Sixer" in so long…

Stan turned and beckoned to his brother. "Come on—that room upstairs in kind of dusty, but I'll bet it's more comfortable than down here. Besides, I'm pretty sure I've seen things crawling down here, and considering what may have come through that portal, I don't want to think of what they might have been. "

Ford looked back at the portal, then back at his brother. "Okay, Stan. I've slept in dirt, so I'm guessing a bit of dust won't hurt me. "

He stepped on to the stairs.

"Say, is my 'Experiment 78' still in that room? "Ford asked.

"What? Oh, you mean that weird rug? No—Dipper had Soos get rid of it when he wanted to have that room for his own, then he changed his mind and moved back in with Mabel. "

"Ah, okay. That's too bad. I have another question though—why do the kids call you 'Grunkle'? "

"You couldn't figure that out, Poindexter? Well, I don't remember if it was Dipper or Mabel, but they were maybe eighteen months or so old, and Shermy's son introduced me as their 'Great Uncle Stan. Heh—I guess 'Great Uncle' was a bit of a mouthful for a kid that little—it came out 'Grunkle'. "

"I see. And what about…"

Stan smiled as he listened to his brother's next question and opened the vending machine door into the shop. He had a feeling that it was going to be a long night with all of his brother's questions, but he didn't mind. For the first time in thirty years, he'd be talking to his twin brother.


End file.
